How the recession has affected you

Andy Street is managing director of John Lewis"In the consumer sector strength is returning and it is disproportionately strong in London.

"Our latest weekly figures show Oxford Street is up 15 per cent on last year, Peter Jones 16 per cent and Brent Cross seven per cent. For John Lewis as a whole we are up 13 per cent. In a sense these are artificially high figures because they reflect just how dreadful things were last year. But if you look at October as a whole we are six per cent up on two years ago.

"But despite that we are keeping our feet very much on the ground, we are expecting a very slow haul. We all know that there are rises in unemployment and tax to come so we may be in a bit of a purple patch which is difficult to sustain. I don't think we will go back into recession but it will be slow. This recession has been like the Nike swoosh, quick to go down and with a slow upside.

"The financial crisis last year led to a paralysis of spending but the underlying worst point was in February and March. It's been a slow recovery since then and we've been in positive territory since the end of June."

The recession has been a "hammer blow" to his business in north London, but estate agent Alan Harounoff is now seeing signs of recovery.

Diamond Estate Agency in Willesden Green took a massive dip in revenue from sales as a result of recession, while lettings suffered because of thenumber of foreign workers leaving the country. But in the past three to four months business has picked up and this week the agency had four sales.

"Like most businesses, recession obviously affected us. It's been a real hammer blow to the property industry," said Mr Harounoff. "Thank God we've survived it and we feel now that we're turning a corner and we're optimistic things will pick up."

He said that being an independent small business with a staff of four helped it to survive and gave it the edge over larger estate agents because it was able to offer a personalised service.

"We all muck in," he said. "Because we're small we don't have loads of clients, so we treat everybody with respect whether they're a student or a millionaire. "I have worked in the area for 20 years so I know the streets like the back of my hand; agents at bigger companies don't always know the local area."

Julio Reiss says his 38-year-old delicatessen is "struggling to survive" and fears that if takings do not pick up by January he will have to close the shop.

Business at the deli has halved since London went into recession and Mr Reiss said he has been forced to put up prices because of the forthcoming business rates increase.

He added: "People in this time of recession don't mind buying poorer quality products to pay less. Two companies nearby that were our customers have closed and Vauxhall recently moved out of here."

There have been more than 200 redundancies at offices in the area which the deli relies on for sandwich sales, and the weak pound has increased the cost of importing specialist ingredients from Spain.

Mr Reiss said he is worried that if he closes the shop he will not be able to provide for his 12-year-old son Jonathan and eight-year-old disabled daughter Sophie.

THE MOTHER

We're working more and have cut luxuries

Businesswoman Shara Vickers, 35, from Newbury Park, has two children, Maya, six, and Tommy, four

Shara Vic kers says that her family has "had to cut back on everything and be really careful with our money since the recession".

"My husband and I run a business and we've had to cut people back on to a four-day week," she said.

"We're still buying goods, but it takes us longer to get paid by other businesses as they are feeling the effects of the recession as well.

"My husband has had to work longer hours and also work from home while I also work at home and look after the children as well.

"We've had to cut back on luxuries like holidays and go in the off-season when prices are lower in order to make more of a saving.

"The improvement has been really slow in coming. I think people's attitude to money has to change. You shouldn't rely on loans if you want to buy something, you should save up."

THE JOBLESS GRADUATE

Employers will only pay you expenses

Keeran Marquis, 22, from Leyton, is an Information Systems graduate at Brunel University

"Employers are looking for candidates with a lot of experience which is difficult to get in the recession. It's difficult to justify doing work experience at this time as there is not enough money to survive and employers are only willing to pay expenses.

"Your degree is becoming less valued as companies are looking for you to have expensive industry qualifications on top of your degree.

I'm having to try and earn enough money to be able to afford to gain these qualification doing other jobs not related to what I studied.

"I'm hopeful that it will get better soon. I feel that companies will be more willing to take people on as they become more stable after the recession and I'm hoping to be able to benefit from that. I know people that had to work for years before they were able to get a job in their chosen sector but I think the recession has made it even more difficult as companies have had to make cuts."